With the increase in married women in the paid labor force, more and more working women have assumed two roles: that of worker and that of wife/mother. This research project is designed to provide detailed ethnographic and interview data which will help to clarify how employed working class women cope with their two roles. It will also investigate whether the strategies women use vary according to their ethnic group, the strengh of their ethnic identification, and the ethnic composition of their neighborhood. Research, to be carried out in Rhode Island, will include participant observation of one or two work situations where semi-skilled married women are employed in light manufacturing or textile firms. Lengthy follow-up interviews will be conducted with twenty of these women and their husbands. Information will be gathered on (1) family roles, division of labor and decision-making, (2) work histories and attitudes toward work for both husband and wife, and (3) important kin, friend, and neighbor relationships, and the use of these for the exchange of goods and services. These data will be used to assess similarities and differences in the strategies used by women highly involved in ethnic relationships and those of women whose residence, kin and friend networks, and association ties cut across ethnic boundaries. The outcome of the project will be a series of hypotheses which can be tested at a later stage through survey research methods.